FOUR men who raided the Co-op, Swanage, last year have been jailed.

It emerged they had committed offences across the south – stealing £125,000 worth of goods.

David Marriott, 23, of Wigman Road, Nottingham, was sentenced to four years for the burglaries and an additional year for other offences in Staffordshire.

Luke Abrahams, 24, of Alwyn Road, Nottingham, was sentenced to two years.

William Dunbar, 23, of Hornbeam Gardens, Nottingham, was sentenced to four years.

Dannie Robinson, 27, of Laburnum Grove, Hucknall, Nottingham, was sentenced to 12 months for the burglaries, plus another 11 months for a previous suspended sentence.

The crew also caused more than £25,000 of damage in their crime spree between March and September last year.

The store in Kings Road West, Swanage, was hit in the early hours of Wednesday, September 3.

Police launched a manhunt on the ground, later finding the four men and their BMW on the Sandford Lane Industrial Estate near Wareham.

They were charged with burglary and appeared at Weymouth Magistrates Court, but it soon transpired that they were responsible for offences in Kent, Sussex and Norfolk.

They were convicted at Maidstone Crown Court on Monday for the series of commercial burglaries.

DS Rob Haines, of Kent Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “Together with colleagues from other forces, we have carried out an extensive investigation in order to bring this gang of criminals before the courts.

“These men targeted businesses across four counties in their desire to steal thousands of pounds of cigarettes and in doing so, left behind tens of thousands of pounds’ worth of damage.”